


To Love from Afar (and maybe a little closer)

by VolsungartheMighty



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Mentioned Derek/Theo/Stiles/Liam, Mentions of Claudia/Sheriff, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-04 23:12:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15157529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolsungartheMighty/pseuds/VolsungartheMighty
Summary: John loves Bobby Finstock. He hasnt let the man know, because why would he? But while at Bobby's birthday party, he has a couple of drinks and decides to pluck up his courage.





	To Love from Afar (and maybe a little closer)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tabbytabbytabby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Tabby, though it is a little early. I almost forgot your birthday was tomorrow, and well... here this is. I hope you like it. It was a little hard for me to write this.

The room was packed full of people, former students and friends having shown up for Bobby’s party in droves. Music blared through the speakers, loud enough to _just_ drown out the sound of chatter throughout the room, but low enough that you didn’t need to shout to be heard.

Stiles was out on the dancefloor, dancing with Derek, and next to them were Theo and Liam, dancing and grinding against each other. It had been a shock when all four of them ended up together, but no one really blamed them. The four of them were cute together, John would admit. He knew what it was like to love more than one person.

But he also knew what it was like to lose one of those people, and then pine over the other for the next decade.

He took a swig of his drink, the whiskey burning the back of his throat as he gulped it down, slamming the glass down on the bar and tapping the wood next to it. “Another, please” John said, loud enough for the barman to hear.

The barman simply nodded, pulling out a clean glass and pouring out the brown liquid, adding a few ice cubes before sliding it down to John, who took another long swig, his eyes sweeping over the crowd before they landed on Bobby.

John couldn’t help the ache in his chest as he looked at the other man. He’d been pining over him for years, even before he had met Claudia. They’d been friends since high school, having performed in the same musicals together. And while John may have nursed a crush on the suave, confident lead, Bobby Finstock.

Though, unfortunately for John, Bobby had been in a relationship at the time, and so he became content to be Bobby’s friend, helping him through breakups and the bad days, through good tmes and bad.

It had been through drama classes that John had met Claudia, and though the two of them hadn’t immediately hit it off on the right foot, they had eventually started dating. Before they knew it, they had graduated high school and John had been accepted into the police academy, he and Claudia had bought a house together. John proposed to Claudia a year after they graduated, she said yes, and then a year later Stiles was born.

And for a while, John’s crush on Bobby faded into the background, and everything seemed perfect.

And then when Stiles was eight, Claudia passed away, and the perfection of his life that had seemed so… solid and stable, shattered into a million pieces.

John took another mouthful of his whiskey, relishing the burn, tears stinging at the corner of his eyes, that he hastily wiped away with his sleeve.

It had been hard, on both him and Stiles when Claudia passed away. Stiles had been young, almost too young to understand that Claudia wouldn’t be coming back, but he had been a smart kid. He knew that something was wrong but hadn’t been able to tell John what. And John himself, he had been devastated. He had lost the woman he had loved, the woman he had had a son with, was gone. And with the grief and the hurt came his previously forgotten crush on Bobby, now the drama teacher and coach at their former high school. And he had been furious with himself, hating that he could feel like that for someone else while the woman he loved was dead and buried.

And so, he had turned to drinking.

It hadn’t been the best form of coping, and he knew, right now, he still wasn’t coping well.

It had been Bobby that had kicked him out of the drinking habit, forcing him to “sober up and look after his kid, or so help me god”. John smiled to himself, as he took a smaller sip of his drink. If Bobby hadn’t stepped in, John didn’t know what would have happened, but he knew that whatever it was wouldn’t have been pretty. He had seen plenty of drunk driving incident to know it never ended prettily.

He sighed into his drink, his eyes having never left Bobby during his reminiscing, as he took another sip. It had been over ten years since Claudia had died, and only five since he had _thought_ he had her back when the wraith took her form during the whole Ghost Rider debacle. But all through that, Bobby had been like a rock for John, holding him and keeping him steady when the emotions had gotten the better of him.

He set the now empty glass down on the bar, not asking for another one. A thought had popped into his head, and he knew he had to be somewhat sober to go through with it and have Bobby know he actually meant it. But he was also worried that he’d ruin everything he had with Bobby.

But he needed to do this, he needed to let Bobby know how he felt. And the alcohol pulsing through his veins was helping.

He strode through the crowd, passing the four boys still grinding against each other, passing Melissa and Chris sitting at a table chatting happily with Scott and Malia. He pushed through the crowd, making his way over to Bobby, who was currently leaning against a wall, a drink in hand, standing by himself. He noticed John making his way over to him and smiled.

“Hey, John. Thanks for organising this” Bobby said, gesturing with his drink to the packed room. “It’s been an amazing night.”

“I’d do anything for a friend like you, Bobby” John said with a smile. He felt like he was balancing on the edge of a knife, not knowing if this was going to end well or not. He rubbed his arm, nervously, like he had when he had asked Claudia to marry him, before he asked, “Are you, uh… busy at the moment? I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah, of course. What can I help you with?” Bobby asked, pushing himself off the wall and standing closer to John.

John felt the courage leaving him as he opened his mouth to talk, and he couldn’t get the words out. Bobby looked at him quizzically, and with the last of his courage, John surged forward, grabbing Bobby’s face between his own and planting their lips together.

At first Bobby stood there, frozen, not reacting at all, and just as John was about to pull away, Bobby muttered a _“fucking finally”_ against his lips before he was pressing back, kissing John with as much enthusiasm as John had started.

When they pulled back, they were both panting, but smiling at each other. John leaned forward, pecking Bobby on the cheek, before both men jumped as the room burst into applause.

They looked away from each other, finding every eye in the room looking at them, cheering and wolf whistles directed towards the two of them. Stiles was front and centre, flanked by his three boyfriends, all of them with bright, happy smiles on their faces.

Stiles made his way over to them, shouting a little over the noise as he said, “I’m glad you two finally did it. I’m happy for the two of you.” He grabbed Johns hand, placing a plastic key card in his hand. “Now get going, love birds. And please, don’t tell us what you get up to.”

Bobby looked between the Stiles and John and back again before saying, “But John’s been drinking all night. He’s not sober.”

“Is he really” Stiles said, with a conspiratorial grin on his face. “I told the barman to only give him non-alcoholic drinks. He’s as sober as you are coach.”

He gave the two of them a salute before walking back to his boyfriends. John could only stare after his son, shaking his head, debating whether it would be better to hug his son or strangle him.

“Come on” Bobby said as he leaned in, whispering into his ear. “We don’t want to let that room go to waste now, do we.”

John could only laugh in agreement as Bobby lead the way. All he could think was that things were only going to get better from here.


End file.
